IntelliJ and CVS integration

By Alvin Alexander. Last updated: June 4, 2016

The folks that have created IntelliJ have really done some nice things for those of us that use open source tools. Of course one tool we all use is CVS for source code control, and the IntelliJ/CVS integration is pretty sweet.

Here's a quick step-by-step process for all that you have to do to integrate CVS into your IntelliJ configuration:

First, install CVS, or WinCVS. What you're going to need for IntelliJ is access to the cvs command line program (cvs.exe for Windows users, and cvs for Unix users).

Withing IntelliJ, select File | Project Properties

Select CVS in the pane

Click Enable CVS integration

Use the ellipsis icon ... to select the path to your cvs.exe CVS command-line client (or presumably just cvs on a Unix system). The path for my Windows PC is F:\Apps\GNU\WinCVS\1.2\.

Then add one or more CVSROOTs by clicking the Add button and filling out the details for your CVS server (i.e., things like select Pserver, Host, User Name, and Repository path. Assuming that you know these details -- which you need anyway to use CVS -- this is a no-brainer.

After that form is filled in just click OK a couple of times to get back to your main IntelliJ window, and you are ready to use CVS, integrated into IntelliJ.

For open source server-side code development, the folks that have created IntelliJ have really done a great job of integrating tools like CVS into their product. Once again, kudos.

Update: 2003-01-04

I just started installed IntelliJ IDEA 3.x, and here is a quick update to these
instructions:

To configure CVS with IntelliJ 3.x for a specific project, follow these quick
steps:

Select File | Project Properties

Click the "VCS Support" button

Select "choose CVS" from the VCS Support: drop-down
menu

(note that some new windows are displayed)

Now fill in your CVS properties, including

the path to the cvs client (cvs.exe) on your system

configuration info for your cvs server

You should also be able to do the same things for your default project
properties. This selection is also available under the File menu.